De Bono's Thinking Course [Paperback]

Edward de Bono (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0816018952 | ISBN-13: 978-0816018956 | Publication Date: March 1988

Transform your thinking! Is the way you think like the colour of your eyes - something you are born with and cannot alter? Or is thinking a skill that can be improved with practice, like swimming, tennis or cooking? In this practical book, Edward de Bono lays out some simple but powerful tools with which we can optimise our thinking, decision making and problem solving. Most of the errors of thinking are errors of perception and that is precisely where these tools help. It helps you learn: how to enhance your thinking processes by developing your perception; how to make the most of your thinking skills and how thinking differs from intelligence; and how to make decisions, and deal with emotions and values whilst focusing on the future. Edward de Bono, the inventor of the term 'lateral thinking' is widely believed to be the world's leading authority on the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He is the author of over 60 books and his methods are widely used in many countries. He advises multinational corporations and also works with education bodies to enable us to maximise our thinking abilities.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Facts on File (March 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816018952
• ISBN-13: 978-0816018956
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Permission to think!, August 1, 2001

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: De Bono's Thinking Course (Paperback)

DeBono counters the misconceptions that creativity and thinking are innate, by providing tools and exercises for thinking. These tools encourage deliberate thinking, and a self-image of "I am a thinker". The techniques provide mechanisms for focusing, looking at alternatives, and deliberate thinking. deBono introduces his term "lateral thinking" and "po" for emphasizing pattern changing and provocation. deBono does not take himself to ponderously, and often sees humor as tool of escaping set patterns (and I was surprised by his "Nor can God have a sense of humor since there can be no surprise .."). In the area of decision science, there are more techniques available (e.g., risk avoidance, regret avoidance, Bayesian). I also am sure some of his more recent books (this one written in 1982) offer additional tools, but this book provides a good foundation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn how to think in a rigorous, efficacious and creative way, March 15, 2009

By 

Deya S. - See all my reviews

This review is from: De Bono's Thinking Course (Paperback)

De Bono's "Thinking Course" is a tour of force of tips and ideas on how to develop a new way of thinking that will enable you to be more efficacious and effective in the use of your mind.

De Bono's approach will enable you:

-Identify common intellectual traps (all of them very self-destructive and limiting, but hardly known by most people, even by the most smart and erudite ones)

-Think in alternative and "out of the box" ways, enabling you to consider the problems and situations in a wider, clearer and objective perspective.

-Resolve problems in a creative, efficacious and constructive ways.

-Expand and enhance your thinking skills in general.

I think this book should be a essential reading in schools and colleges, but I'm sure that book would be especially useful for scientists and philosophers, because the latter professionals need to be creative, original and rigorous in the posing and solving of complex topics or problems in their fields.

This book would make easier their intellectual job!

A must read.

4.0 out of 5 stars Thinking as a discipline, July 7, 2006

By 

Jason Luis (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: De Bono's Thinking Course (Paperback)

When you are growing up, your mind groups things in certain ways in order to help you process tons of information that innundates your every day life. It learns to recognize patterns and helps you quickly form opinions about something. In nature, animals may learn to recognize a predator if its parent runs away from it each time it sees it. As the youngling grows up, it too runs from the predator. Some would say that this is stereotyping and thus is wrong, but it most likely would save this animal's life one day.

My long winded story just points out the usefulness of teaching your brain how to think and not just react. Debono does a good job in this book as it gets you to think about thinking. Just as in any book you read, you walk away with some thing useful, you walk away with something you would not find useful, just as you would find something you would agree with and something you don't.

For me, it was a good investment in time because I now have in my arsenal methods to think analytically in situations that come about. If for nothing else, this book saves you time in your job and in your life. As a plus, you will be able to understand more of what is going on around you.